Sucker Punch 2: The Path Less Travled
by WildCherryBomb
Summary: The Story has ended. Babydoll is now lobotomized. but what happens next? Sweet Pea has returned home, but she feels as if her story is incomplete. so she makes the terrifying choice to return to the Lennox house, rescue Babydoll, and avenge Rocket. with new allies and new challenges ahead, Sweet Pea must know one more thing... The Story is Never Over. Not until you end it yourself.
1. Prologue

**Sucker Punch 2: The Path Less Traveled**

**Prologue **

_Look Closer. Closer. No matter what you think you see, there is always more to the story. No one really gives them much thought. The notes in the Siren's Song, or the tree that grew the Poison Apple. But these hidden Stories were meant to be told. So that their destiny affects the others around it. Giving them their true fate._

All I could feel was cold. My knees were held close against my chest and my breathing was short and rapid. My red-gold hair fell loose around my trembling shoulders, absolute fear and terror reflected in my blue-green eyes. All I could think about was Rocket. The way she protected me when I was the one to protect her for all those years. And yet all I had done to keep her safe, all I had done to protect her, it hadn't mattered. She saved me. And she died in doing so. I had failed as her sister. I was supposed to save her. I wanted to be her hero. But now here I was in a freezing supply closet, praying that my coming death would be quick and painless. But it never came. Blue never showed up with a gun in his hand or a burly bodyguard at his side.

The supply closet door creaked open, I squeezed my eyes shut, and trying my best not to burst into tears as a feared my demise. But it never came. I turned by tear-stained face to see who stood in the doorway, trying to figure out what was taking so long. Why didn't Blue just end it already? Why did he have to torture me with this stretching anxiety and suspense?

I only stared at the person who bent down to talk to me. I recognized her platinum hair and pigtails anywhere. Babydoll. I didn't know her real name, with enough time in the Lennox house I too had forgotten my birth-given title. Baby's face was distressed and fearful as she spoke to me in hushed tones.

"Sweet Pea we have to go." She said. My mind began to comprehend what she spoke of. I looked behind her, she was alone. The mayor's lighter, the map, and Blue's master key were in her hands. Where was Amber and Blondie? Were they not coming? Were they so spooked by Rocket's death and Blue's threat that they would just give up?

"Baby, where's Amber and Blondie?" I heard myself ask. Baby's gaze dropped, and I knew. They weren't coming, because they were gone too.

"It's just us now. We have to go now." And with that she took my trembling hand in hers and pulled me to my feet. I smelled the smoke in the stuffy air of the building. Baby had already set the fire and we were hurrying to the entrance gate. We hid under the counter as I heard her mumbling with anticipation for the fire alarm to go off and the doors to unlock themselves. The alarm finally blared out after what felt like hours, and Babydoll pushed open the metal door with an unnoticed creak. Though I was shaking, my mind only focused on the escape. Even though I wanted to be sad and guilty about leaving Rocket behind like I swore I would never do. But I had to be strong for her and tell our mother what she said like I promised.

Before I could think about what I would say to mom and dad when I got home. Baby and I were outside the walls of the Lennox house. I breathed in the intoxicating fresh air like it was the wine of the gods itself. I hadn't seen the real sky in years, breathed real air. It felt too good to be true, like a cruel dream I knew would end as soon as I began to smile. And I was right.

My gaze turned terrified as I saw about a dozen guards at the front gate. The one thing standing between me, Baby, and freedom.

"Shit!" I heard Baby whisper beside me. I too felt like cursing, but I was so afraid I couldn't get the words out.

"This can't be. We did everything right." I said shakily. Baby stared at her feet shaking her head and mumbling to herself.

"A map, fire, a knife, a key, and one thing more. One thing more." Babydoll fell silent for a few moments, a look of realization dawning on her young features. I could only stare ahead at the guards, I wanted freedom so badly. It wasn't just for me anymore. I had to be free for Rocket. For my sister who died for me.

"Me." I heard Baby speak up after the stretching silence.

"What?" I couldn't comprehend what she meant. Me? What did she mean?

She breathed out hastily, anticipation in her every breath. "It's me, of course it's me. It's the only way this ever could have ended." Dear god Baby what are you talking about?

"What do you mean?" I demanded. Babydoll turned to me, her no longer innocent eyes staring me down with a mixture of grief and fear.

"I'm saying that you go home, go to your family. You tell your mom what Rocket said, make her happy. Go out and live a normal life. Love, be free. You have to live for all of us now." I hadn't realized I had begun to cry again until I felt the stream of tears running down my face. She couldn't be serious, could she? She couldn't just do everything to be free and then give herself up in the end. They were in this together. Like she said, it was just them now. I don't think I could bring myself to leave her behind too.

"Baby, no, you can't…" I trailed off and Baby took it up for me.

"Yes Sweet Pea, you're the strongest. You're the only one of us who ever had a chance out there. You're going home and leaving, that's how we win. It's ok, it's better this way. Now listen, I'm going to walk out there and when they come after me, you go, ok?" Babydoll pressed the master key into my trembling hand. I wanted to through the thing on the ground and demand that we finish this together. I hadn't wanted to admit it before, but Babydoll was now all I had left of Rocket. She'd become like my second sister. And as of now, my only sister. And I wanted anything else but to leave her here in this hell. But I knew I couldn't be free if she didn't do this. If she didn't do this then we would both be stuck here forever. And I would have failed Rocket. Failed to keep my promise. Failed to be free for her. I closed my shaking fist around the key, knowing that this was the only way. But I refused to believe that.

"There's got to be another way." I said, on the verge of tears again. Babydoll shook her head and said to me firmly but with a sisterly love I knew I could relate to.

"No, this is right. This was never my story. It's yours." She got up from her crouched position and began to walk out to face the guards. I felt the tears running down my cheeks again as I watched her go.

"Now don't screw it up, okay? You stay off the roads, and find a bus station, okay?" she smiled weakly at me.

"You're going to be fine." and by the time those words reached my ears, she was too far away for me to stop her without being noticed by the guards. I only caught the shimmer and shine of Babydoll's dance costume as I hurriedly walked to the front gate.

"Where you going Sweetheart?" I heard one of the husky guards say to Baby. She had succeeded in getting all of their attention; none of them even noticed me as I shakily unlocked the gate as quietly as humanly possible. I stole a glance back at Babydoll. She just looked at me. Not saying a word and her expression in her eyes saying every needed word.

I silently slipped through the gate and closed it behind me, putting my hand over my mouth to stifle a sob.

I heard the guard repeat himself. "I said, where you going?" I couldn't bear to watch anymore, so I began to run away from the gate and down the asphalt of the Lennox house driveway. I heard a pain filled grunt come from behind me, knowing that Baby hurt the guard in some way to piss him off and keep his attention on her. I let out a sob as I ran faster, refusing to think about what they would do to her now. I felt the mud making slush sounds on my shoes as I ran faster, feeling adrenalin spreading through me like venom. I couldn't stop going back to the thoughts of me leaving Babydoll in there. This was her plan. This was supposed to end with her going home like I was doing now. She was supposed to be the princess who got out of the tower and got her freedom. And me, I was no evil witch or dragon, but I felt like I held her back. I was the one who doubted her plan from the beginning. Told her it would never work, but it did. And now here I was leaving her in the buzzards like the diva bitch that I was. More tears spilled out of my cheeks and by the time I made the decision to go back and save Baby, building lights from the nearby town started to come into view.

The lights I saw weren't from a town. They were from a farmhouse just outside the Lennox hell. (My little nick-name for the place.) The lights in the house were now off, but I knew the owners would be waking up soon, as the sun was beginning to rise. I spotted a clothing line right away. There were normal people cloths hanging on it overnight to dry. A few shirts, some pairs of socks and pants, and a clean white dress that was knee-length and had sleeves that went to just above the elbow. I knew I would need normal clothes to blend in. because my leopard-print leotard, high-heels, thigh-highs, and cropped sweater wouldn't help a Lennox fugitive blend in. I unhooked the white dress from the line and carried it in my arms as if it were a priceless gown. I quickly found cover and changed as quickly as I could, pulling my red-gold hair into a tidy pony-tail. And by that time, I had whipped away my tears and regained my emotionless features. I had to look normal. And normal is what I wanted.

The bus station wasn't that crowded. There were families and people boarding and exiting various busses, buying snacks from vending machines and using the bathrooms. I spotted a bus going to my home-town and the gears began to creak back to life in my heart. I was actually here: outside. I could see the sun and the blue sky after what felt like an eternity. And I was going home. Without Rocket. I quickly pushed that thought away, knowing that if I thought about it a second more I would burst into tears again. I quickly joined a family that was boarding the bus to my hometown. One of them, a boy about Rocket's age, turned and looked at me. For some strange reason, I felt like I knew him. Like I had seen him in a dream, or a vision. But I knew we'd never met. Or maybe we did. Damn, I remembered so little from my life before Lennox. I met the boy's eyes, and for a moment feared he would rat me out for trying to sneak onto the bus. But he just stood there, looked at me for a second, then turned back to his family. I gave him s silent thanks as I prepared to board the bus as well, but then…

"Excuse me, miss?" asked a voice that sent me into a tense stance. I turned to see two police officers standing there, suspicion in their eyes and on their faces. I couldn't move, I couldn't think. They knew. They knew who I was and they were going to take me back to the Lennox hell.

"May we ask you a few questions?" the second officer asked me. I tried to respond, but my voice didn't work. I was frozen. A deer in the head-lights. Except this wasn't some bitch min-van that would just stop a few feet away from me, no, this was the sixteen wheeler that would flatten me without a second thought.

I opened and closed my mouth to try and speak, to say some random excuse to make me seem innocent, but nothing came to mind. I was doomed.

"Excuse me?" said a smooth yet scratchy voice behind me. I turned to look at the speaker who was obviously addressing either me or the officers. It was the driver of the bus. He probably wanted to know what the hold-up was.

"Is there a problem officers?" he asked. I could sense his serene demeanor, he reminded me of a grandfather figure. Like someone I could sit with on the couch while listening to stories about the 'good old days.'

"Nothing, we just wanted to ask the lady a few questions." The officer on the left replied, gesturing to me. The bus-driver simply smiled at me and then said to the police men,

"She's been on this bus since Hartford. I just let her off to use the restroom, mine doesn't work. I don't see why she'd be of any suspicion." The calm man explained. I almost felt my mouth drop open. What did he just say? He… lied for me? Why would he do that? I didn't even notice the two officers exchange glances and then shrug.

The one on the right spoke to me calmly, "Sorry for the confusion miss. You have a safe trip." He apologized.

"Oh, and one more thing." The bus driver continued, "She's been a delightful passenger."

"Yes, indeed." The left officer snapped a bit. He politely tipped his hat to me and I smiled kindly in return before turning back to the bus and walking up the steps. I told the bus driver,

"I don't have a ticket." I didn't expect him to defend me without some kind of payment. But he surprised me.

"It's okay." He said. "Just grab a seat in the back, and try to get some rest. You've got a long journey ahead." He said with a kind smile. I don't know why, but I felt as if what he told me held more meaning than a simple free bus-ride home. But none-the-less I took my seat, laying my head against the window and trying to ease my still racing mind.

The bus soon pulled out of the station and I was on the road. The bus-seat was comfortable enough and most of the other passengers were asleep already. I closed my eyes sleepily, letting a single tear slide down my cheek before I drifted off to sleep. My journey to freedom was over.

Little did I know my journey for closure had only just begun.

_There are always people who will try to erase these stories. Drive themselves mad by denying the truth and running from destiny. But they always happen. The path you took to avoid destiny would only bring you closer and closer to it. And when you think the story is over, that the princess has gotten her happy ending. That is only the beginning. A sign that the fight is far from over._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I stood outside the screen door to the house my parents lived in. the same house Rocket and I lived in before she ran away and I followed her. The same house I barely remembered at all. I only remembered small details. Like the way my mother would put a star-fish instead of a regular star on top of the Christmas tree every year because she always wanted a beach house. Or the way my dad would always make the worst coffee and mom, Rocket, and I would always tell him it was great so we wouldn't hurt his feelings. I smiled at those memories that I swore I'd hold onto in the Lennox hell.

I shakily lifted my hand to the door, scared out of my mind. Would they still love me? Would they even remember me? I barely remembered them. Hell I couldn't even remember my own name! But with those doubts I knocked anyway.

It was about seven in the morning so dad would probably be up making coffee. I began to bite my nails from the anticipation; would they remember me? I couldn't bear to think about it so I turned and began to walk away. But once I'd reached the bottom step I heard the door creak open.

"Excuse me? Can I help you?" said the unmistakable voice of my father. My head whipped around to face him, tears streaming down my face again and small clumps of my red-gold hair sticking out from my pony-tail. I recognized him right away. That ratty old blue bathrobe, the brown slippers and stripped pajamas, and black coffee in a mug that looked like a penguin. I knew because Rocket had given it to him for his birthday.

"Dad?" my tearful voice whimpered. He just stared at me for a few moments before realization dawned on his old withered features.

"M- Rachel?" he choked out. That right, I thought, my name was Rachel. But for god's sake I couldn't remember Rocket's name. I nodded my head once and my dad began to cry. He dropped his penguin mug and it shattered on the wood porch as he threw his arms around me. I sobbed into his shirt and he stroked my hair comfortingly.

"You're alive." He sobbed into my hair. This made me cry harder: I was alive, but I couldn't save my sister.

"Anthony?" said another voice behind my father. He pulled away from me for a moment to reply.

"Claire." He sighed, tears of joy and relief running down his face and dripping through his shaved beard. I just stared at the woman before me. She had my red-gold hair, and my blue-green eyes. And the name Claire rag in my ears like the loudest trumpet in the orchestra. My mother.

"Mom?" I sobbed again. She stared at me, the same look of knowing, and relief, and joy, and sorrow, and grief all rolled into one.

"Rachel." She crushed my with her hug, "My baby, you're okay." She began to sob into my hair like dad was not a moment before. She kissed my forehead and face multiple times as if testing to see if I was real. I held onto her with all I had as if she were to vanish into thin air if I let go.

We stayed like that for a while, on the front porch of their house with their arms tightly sewn around me and tears rolling down our faces. But people would start to notice eventually, and I couldn't have anyone seeing me as a fugitive. Even if I really was one.

The house seemed so quite on the inside, bland and lifeless compared to the bright and loving home Rocket and I had grown up in. the walls were lined with old photos; some of mom or dad on a vacation or party, a couple family reunion pictures, and one of me and Rocket outside Camp Okanagan. Our hair was wet and tangled beyond all recognition and we were wearing our swimsuits. We'd spend our summers there when we were kids. We'd lived and breathed the lake and forest area surrounding the camp, often sneaking out and wandering the endless woods after lights-out. The happy thought of Rocket made me smile despite the millionth round of tears welling up in my eyes.

"Rachel?" I heard my mother's voice. "Is Paige with you?" I froze in my tracks. She was talking about Rocket. I remembered now that her name was Paige. What was I supposed to say to them? That my sister, their daughter, was dead, and that I couldn't protect her like I was always supposed to do. I felt like such a failure when my mother said those four simple words to me. I felt my eyes welling up with salty tears when my voice wouldn't work as my mouth opened and closed with silent words I couldn't bring myself to speak.

"R… Paige she…" I managed to force out of my still unnaturally pink lips. I couldn't look my parents in the eye as I hung my head in sorrow and shame. I had nothing to say, nothing to do, nothing I could even look at to erase my feeling of pain and grief that hung around my neck like a noose. When I brought my head up to look at my parents I could see the anxiety building up in their aged faces at my sudden outburst of emotion.

"She's gone." I sobbed. I fell to my knees with a thud that seemed to echo off the walls of my house. The sobs of my mother seemed to muffle in contrast to my own burning sadness. I felt two strong yet gentle arms around my trembling shoulders, my father trying his best to console me in his own quiet sobs for his youngest daughter. I wanted to push him away, to wallow in my own little shadowed corner like I deserved for failing to save my baby sister. But I couldn't bring myself to do it; I needed them right now to save me from my despair, as much as they needed me to tell them what happened so we could remember Rocke- Paige, as long as we could. It was as if my parents were the ropes I could cling to for what remained of my sanity.

After what seemed like forever, my mother's sobs quieted and she hugged me along with my dad. They both helped me to my feet and my mother gripped my shoulders and looked me in my tear filled eyes.

"Tell us what happened." She said, her voice cracked and her eyes and cheeks red from crying. I nodded slowly and we sat on the couch. The upholstery was long worn down and most of the stitches were pulled loose out of the vomit green fabric. But right now it was the most comfortable thing I'd sat on in days. I whipped my wet cheeks clean with my hands that were still shaking a little bit, before I began to tell them everything. I told them about how after Rocket and I ran away we ran into some trouble and ended up in the Lennox house, there we were for three years under slave-like circumstances, but then we both met Babydoll, she had a plan to escape and with the help of me, Rocket, and a couple other girls we managed to steal some of our needed escape tools. But Blondie ended up cracking and getting us busted, leading to getting herself, Amber, and Rocket killed. I told them how Babydoll stabbed Blue in the neck and got me out of the supply closet/solitary confinement, and we'd made it to the front gates. From there I explained how in the end Baby sacrificed herself to the guards so I could sneak away unnoticed, leading to her own demise. I quickly grabbed a bus home, and now here I am.

My parents were at a loss for words. What could they have said? That they were sorry? That they would swear vengeance on the Lennox house that has weaseled its way out of the law for years?

"Sweet Pea, I'm so sorry." My father said as he pulled me into another hug. This one I bristled at. I then remembered that everyone who knew me well enough called me Sweet Pea, despite my cold exterior I was a nice person, you just had to know me and how I worked. I was always kind of a bitch to people I didn't know or trust, but if you were my friend and I knew you as much as you knew me, I would look after you like a big sister would, it was in my nature as it always will be. The big, strong sister who could move mountains for the ones she loved, but could murder anyone she hated. That's just how I worked. That was who I was. This was always why Sweet Pea seemed more like my name than Rachel.

"I swear we will make those bastards pay for what they did to Paige, and for what they put you through." My mother said, anger welling up in her once sorrowful voice.

I shook my head, "You can try, but Lennox has weaseled its way out of trouble before, Blue has bribed almost everybody who goes there into keeping quiet about what happens in that gilded cage. Even cops." I explained. "It wouldn't matter."

"That is no excuse not to do something. They kept my daughters prisoners and murdered one of them! We can't just do nothing!" my mother shouted, her calm eyes now wild with rage.

"Claire, you heard Rachel, even if we did tell the police then Lennox would just find a way out of it again. It wouldn't matter, I dealt with these types of things before, you'd need to burn the place to the ground from the inside, and there's no way in san hell Rachel is going anywhere near that place again. There's nothing we can do." My dad said finally. That's right; he served ten years of service with the army during the war. I remembered Rocket, my mother, and I being worried to death whether he would come home or not. But the moment he walked through that door it was like every problem the three of us had in the past evaporated right on the spot. Rocket had been fifteen and I had been nineteen. My head lowered again. I kept calling her Rocket and not Paige. Why was that? Maybe all that time calling my sister Rocket had coded it into my brain permanently. After all, when we were kids she would be filled with so much life and energy and enthusiasm towards every little thing that dad always called her his little human bottle rocket.

"There is never nothing." My mother said firmly before getting up from her seat on the couch and going to the phone. Once I realized what she was doing I quickly jumped up from my seat on the couch and sped over to where my mother stood at the wall-phone.

"Hello, this is Claire-"I quickly slammed my hand down on the receiver and the line went dead.

"Rachel!" my mother scolded me. She put the phone back and I herded her back to the couch.

"I'm sorry mom but we can't call the police. One: we have no evidence that supports the fact that Lennox is a corrupt hell-hole, two: I'm a fugitive now, we can't just waltz in like idiots and cry to the police, I would just get locked up again!" I hadn't realized I'd been shouting until I heard my own voice echo through the house. I took a deep breath and continued,

"Mom, I know you want to do something, but we don't have many options that don't end up with me back in Lennox and our attempts for nothing. I can't leave you again." I said, my voice dropping to a sad tone. My mother looked at me with her eyes filling with tears again.

"I'm sorry Sweet Pea. I just, hate feeling so helpless." She buried her face in her hands and began to cry again, my dad adding what little comfort he could muster. She could sense his anger at the situation. Just finding out his child was dead and not able to do anything to make things right.

She wasn't the only one who hated being helpless; how do you think _I_ felt when I got locked in that cleaning closet, not able to do anything to get out of it, out of Lennox, out of freaking Brattleboro. But I couldn't, I couldn't get out, I wouldn't _be_ out without Babydoll. I owe her my life…

And yet… I threw hers away.

"You should get some sleep, you must be exhausted." My dad spoke up after quieting my mother's heart wrenching sobs. Once I processed what he said I nodded and retreated to what I thought was what used to be my room.

It was just like how I remembered it, the door covered from head to toe in signs that read 'Keep Out' and other things like a big gold star in the center that had something written in black Sharpie. 'Star of the Show. Please Knock.'

I smiled at the memory of Rocket coming up with writing that. And then I frowned at her not being able to be here to share a laugh with me about it. I shook my head, I couldn't think like that, I needed to sleep, and I couldn't do that while reliving that nightmare.

I slowly opened my bedroom door, somewhat nervous to what shape it would be in. it was just how I last remembered it; full sized bed with a soft red canopy draped over it, and a vanity in the corner with all my makeup, hair care, and a bright pink feather boa hooked on the corner of the mirror. My heart hung heavy at seeing the covers on the bed pulled back, like whoever slept there woke with a start and rushed out of bed. I knew this because I did. I'd heard noise coming from Rocket's room and hurried to see what was going on. I'd found her sneaking out through her window with a backpack strapped to her back and fury in her eyes. I'd asked her what the hell she was thinking by running away. Her exact words to me were 'I just can't… be here, anymore Rachel.' And with that she jumped out the window and ran off.

I don't know why I followed her. Maybe it was to keep her out of trouble, but I obviously failed to do that. I never separated myself from mom and dad the way she did, Rocket always felt like she didn't belong here; being the perfect little sister to me and the polite little girl mom expected. She couldn't live like that, so she left. Me, I couldn't watch my sister throw her life down the drain so I followed her. And to be honest, I didn't really love the fact that I was the perfect little daughter all the time. I wanted to rebel a little. I wanted to get the freedom I never knew I had until now. And yet, Rocket never did. On her own quest for freedom, she had it taken from her when we were locked up in Lennox. I did what I could to keep her from Blue and his ruthless thugs and clients, not letting any of those pigs even _look_ at Rocket. But, none of it had mattered much in the end. She had been right all along. They were already dead inside. So it wasn't such a big change to be dead outside too.

I thought back to what Baby told me. That I was the only one of us five who'd ever had a chance in the real world. Part of me knew she was right. But, then I'd thought of Rocket and how I'd held her lifeless body in my arms. I remember how I couldn't tear my watering eyes away from her bloody stomach wound and how I wanted to take that knife and let out my wrath on the Cook. He killed my sister, and I wanted so badly to kill him, to show him what he deserved just like every other pig at Lennox. But something wouldn't let me. Something held my fury back and transformed it into grief and guilt. Something told me that it had been my fault. That I'd failed as her guardian and protector. The proof being her limp form at my feet as Blue's men held my shrieking form back.

Part of me wanted to crumble into a pile at Rocket's side and stop.

Part of me wanted to stop fighting.

But once I saw Babydoll's big innocent eyes, I knew I had to keep going. I had to fight for my life because I knew that Rocket would want me to live for her. She would want me to have that normal life again.

I was too tired to shower and clean up. Too exhausted to even steal a glance at the mirror that had a photo of a young Rocket and a young Sweet Pea along with few other girls I barely recognized tucked into the corner of the reflective glass.

I simply quieted my mind and slipped underneath my sheets that had been cold from no one sleeping in them for so long, and let my mind go blank as I fell into the open arms of sleep.


End file.
